‘It was a tragedy;’ Powerboat racing leader speaks out after man killed in crash during competition
A 20-year-old man is dead after a powerboat crash during a competition in Springfield.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, Vice President of the American Powerboat Association Kurt Romberg said this is the type of sport families pass down generation to generation.
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The crash happened at Champions Park Lake on Tuesday morning during the 2025 Stock, Mod, and Junior Nationals racing event.
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“There are literally hundreds of racers from every corner of this country that, that feel that pain, and it was a tragedy,” Romberg said.
Romberg said the crash happened during the second heat.
“They do what’s called a flying start, where we have a large digital clock off to the right side of the race course, they approach the start finish line, and the idea is to be going at maximum speed when that clock counts down to zero,” Romberg said.
20-year-old Treiden Schlieicher lost control of his powerboat.
“Treiden had some problems with his boat and things, you know, got tangled up,” Romberg said.
There was a medic staged at the event and rescue divers in the water.
“The black diamond diver got to him in just a number of seconds, did what they could do, brought him in and and the ambulance guys helped and they tried to get him stabilized,” Romberg said.
Medics took the man to Springfield Regional Medical Center, where he later died.
“He was a good kid, and he was well-liked. And once again, I’ll say that it’s, you’re losing a family, and a lot of, a lot of our members are looking at it in that respect,” Romberg said.
There were several heats still scheduled after the crash.
“The race committee had to get in the huddle, and there was a lot of back and forth on, do we keep going? Do we stop? What do we do here? And really, it came down to the family saying, ‘Treiden would want you to keep going.’ And so we kept going,” he said.
Romberg added that Mercy Health brought in a trauma counselor to talk with anyone who needed support.
The association plans to honor Schlieicher at a race next month.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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